Currently Obsessing Over: TOMS Petal Grosgrain Classics

I want these TOMS mainly because they look like ballerina shoes :) They are actually wedding bridesmaids shoes...either way they are dainty and cute.

Bake Sale Recap!

The Baking Betties Bake Sale was a success! Here's what I've learned:

• If you're hosting a bake sale in July, buttercream icing is your friend. It doesn't melt as does normal store bought icing. We luckily only had one batch of cupcakes donated that were made of regular icing and the oozed and melted a few hours into the bake sale. Buttercream icing is really easy to make, just some butter, lots of confectioner's sugar and a splash of milk.
• A canopy is a must. Had we have been under direct sunlight, I know our baked goods, not to mention ourselves, wouldn't have lasted very long.
• A flea market is a good place to hold a bake sale as far as foot traffic. But, most patrons were in the mindset of bargains and didn't want to pay much for a bag of brownies. So we ended having to slash a lot of our prices. The price list guideline suggest $3 for cupcakes and such which is realistic but our bargain shoppers weren't biting so we made some changes.
• Buy lots and lots of ice! We had containers filled with ice, we then laid tin foil on top, and then placed the baked goods atop the foil to keep the goodies nice and cold while preventing them from getting wet too. We also bought an inflatable buffet and filled it with ice. You can find them online or at Party City if you have one.
• Aluminum baking pans are really inexpensive and sit easily in ice without getting soggy.
• Microsoft Office has great templates I encourage everyone to utilize. They had great raffle ticket templates that were customizable and were much cheaper than buying the actual rolls of tickets.
• For packaging we used plastic baggies labeled with the GABS stickers, plus some red, white, and blue curling ribbon. We bought white lunch paper bags for customers to carry off their goods in. For people who bought individual cupcakes we bought paper bowls and just wrapped them in tin foil for them.

We were blessed to have a local craft and sew studio donate a lovely retro apron, which fit with our Baking Betties Team theme.

It was hot and a lot of work with only a 4 person team but I think we did a great job!

Looking a bit odd...

You may see the blog looking a bit different for the next few days or weeks...depending on how long it takes me to be satisfied with a new layout. I'm trying a few things out so if things look wonky or out of place, do not worry...tis only temporary. Thanks for bearing with me during these "costume" changes!

Wedding Hair: Wrap-Around Braid

via pinterest

I love all the braided hairstyles I've been seeing this summer. Reminded me I never posted my wedding hair. It's basically a wrap around braid with the loose ends curled and pinned up. I made both my fascinator and birdcage veil with the help of this and this tutorial.

side

click image to see larger view of fascinator

front

with birdcage veil

Happy Independence Day America!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth! The 4th of July is def my fave holiday! Grilling. Summer. Swimming. Fireworks. Family. Proposal. We got rained out this year so I didn't get to see an official fireworks display, but that's okay bc there were enough contraband [they are illegal in VA] fireworks going on in the neighborhoods, keeping me up until 12 am mind you. Basically spent the weekend swimming, grilling, roasting s'mores and spending QT time with family and friends. Need I say more why I love Independence Day? Home of the Free because of the Brave. Thanks to all our past and present military for keeping America Freeeeee!

my fam inadvertently dressed as the American flag :P

Pink Bike

a photo by 3oclockwalk on Flickr.

pics via my home town. snapped this while grabbing some cupppy cakes at Just Cupcakes

I love this sentiment...

"Sea otters hold hands when they sleep, so they don't drift away from each other." Love it!

via pinterest

Nap time must be lovely here...

via hollymaus

Currently Obsessing Over: Jason Segel and the Muppets!

Jason Segel is the man of the year for my husband and I. Ever since we watched Despicable Me with the lil one, we are addicted to this funny man. So I am super excited that he is teaming up with my fave Muppets for their new movie! I can't wait!

A bittersweet mood.

Bittersweet chocolate is my mood today, emphasis on the bitter. A bitter mood. I've got a lot of baking on my mind and I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little Verklempt. I have this great idea of how I want the bake sale to go, but then of course it takes resources, like extra money and extra time, both of which I do not have. I've been having sleep issues and on top of that I have 2 major events that I am volunteering for this summer. Luckily, one of them, the bake sale is this weekend so once that is over I get to cross it off the list. Unfortunately, that means I only have a few weeks to get the other done.

The Great All American Bake Sale is this coming weekend, just in time for the 4th of July weekend. I pray for good weather, a great turn out, and for none of our baked goods to melt.  Then starting July 17 is my church's Vacation Bible School, where I am heading up all the decorations this year. Which is def a task in its own. I basically have to build a small town in our church. So a lot going on in one month. I will be relaxing when July is over for sure.

Baking Betties All American Bake Sale
at Haygood United Methodist Church and Flea Market
July 2, 2011 bright and early at 6:30am-1:30pm
http://join.strength.org/goto/bakingbetties

Haygood UMC
Vacation Bible School
Inside Out & Upside Down on Main Street
July 17-21, 2011
www.vacationbibleschool.com/haygood

Class.

Meet Kokeshi Kitty! Art by @kimanh_nguyen

Meet Kokeshi Kitty! Art by @kimanh_nguyen, a photo by 3oclockwalk on Flickr.

Say Hello to Kokeshi Kitty! This makes tatt #5. I adore her.

My Zearly Experience/Review

 A few weeks ago I mentioned using Zearly for the first time and I wanted to let you know how my experience went.

Pros:

• Its a smart service and really helps you get rid of clothes that you don't have the time or patience to sell at consignment yourself.
• They pay for shipping on your bags.
• They accept more than most kids consignment places. Which I appreciate since I don't normally buy brand names. (I can't tell you how many times other places have passed up barely worn items just because they didn't have a big brand name on the tag.)
• They provide great/prompt customer service and communication.
• The business idea is a great way to stay frugal & green!

Cons:

• Their site server crashes every now and again. I'm guessing they are getting more traffic than their host can handle. I also had problems receiving confirmation emails from their system, but that very well could have been my mailbox's issue and they could have been put in my Spam Inbox without me realizing. I brought up the issue with their customer service and they were able to take care of the issues immediately.
• The selection is a bit small since it is still an emerging business. Which is why I want to spread the word so that more items are available for more parents!
• For now, I recommend buying points if you already see items on the site you wish to purchase. If they don't have your child's size then your money could be sitting around in your account for weeks. But if you traded in items to get your points then it really is just a matter of waiting for items that suit your needs. And that's okay with me since I didn't spend a dime and it helps build their inventory when you trade items.

They are a new business so there are a few kinks to work out still. Think of them as still operating in Beta for all you techies out there.

All in all I remain an advocate for Zearly. I think its a great idea that I hope catches on and grows. The staff was very helpful and prompt with getting back to me. They do a great job of staying active and communicating with their customers both on Twitter and Facebook. Which I can appreciate...being the social media addict that I am ;)

AMF Summer Unplugged Program

The weather in Hampton Roads for this week will reach up into the 90s! Not to mention the crazy tornadoes our area has been having. And yes, I said tornadoes. And no, tornadoes are a new thing for us and very uncommon. But for the past few weeks we have been hit with quite a few of them which is quite unsettling. We were out of power for quite sometime so our house is incredibly uncomfortable due to the lack of electricity and AC. Its times like these that retreating to a nice air-conditioned facility would be nice...like the bowling alley!

AMF is currently having a Summer Unplugged Program for families! Families with children 16 and under bowl free! (limit 2 games per day, not including shoe rental) All you have to do is register your child at the Summer Unplugged site and you will be emailed free game coupons every Sunday starting May 29th. The program runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. There are also great deals for families with older children as well. Head on over to sign up and get your free bowl on!  

http://bit.ly/AMFfree



Disclosure: all opinions stated in this post are my own as a member of One2OneNetwork.

my thought for the day...

Zearly: Revolutionizing Kids Clothing

I just stumbled upon Zearly via Eversave.com. As a mom, it is what I've been dreaming for! Zearly is an online service where you donate your child's outgrown clothes in return for points that you can use towards "shopping" for new ones off their Zearly site.They send you a bag in the mail, you fill it up, and based on their criteria you receive a certain amount of points that you can use to get new stuff for your kiddie. You don't even have to go to the post office to drop it off. They pay for shipping and have UPS pickup your bag right off your doorstep. It is a Godsend! Years of packing my daughter's clothes to bring them to local consignment shops, only to find out they weren't accepting donations or weren't accepting my child's size, it was rather frustrating. It seemed like they were NEVER accepting anything!

Zearly is the brainchild of two momprenuers that had similar gripes about finding something that worked for their children's hand-me-downs. I think its amazing and quite empowering to come across women like that who find a need and do something about it. Very inspiring.

Zearly sends you one bag to fill, you can order more but I was able to fill the bag up with the contents of 2 Rubbermaid boxes. I am sending off my bag now. This is my first time using Zearly so I hope everything works out because this would be an answer to my prayers. I'm not worried though, I have high hopes for Zearly. Cheers!

My 1st bag ready to go!

Braided Pizza Bread

You find wonderful ideas on the Internet. I came across this via ljc's pinterest and thought, why didn't I think of that? It worked out bc I had already planned to make pizza bread this week, but instead of normally just rolling up the dough like I usually would, I thought I'd try out this braided version. It does make it quite prettier and I like how the ingredients are sort of oozing out, teasing your taste buds ;) Pizza bread is a cinch to make. Just takes some Pillsbury pizza dough, pizza/tomato sauce, and whatever toppings your fam is into. Are you on Pinterest? Find me...lets share :)

Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

In case you didn't know, May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month :) Reading Rockets and PBS have links to great children's books for families of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Filipino decent. Being a Filipino American myself its important to me to educate my daughter on her other half of ethnicity. I think its great that their our more books available to her from Filipino authors. I urge you to take a look or try and find some at your local library...even if you and your family are not of Asian decent it'll be great to teach your families of the many different Asian cultures out there.

I'M A FINALIST: Gallery at Military Circle Mall Mother-Child-Look Alike Contest!

YAYE! I'm a finalist! I came across this link via myactivechild.com during Mother's Day and figured I'd give it a go. I'm always being told how I look just like my mama and look I made it to become one of the three finalist! I'd appreciate your vote :) To vote: "Like" the Gallery at Military Circle's page by following this link, then you will have access to my photo within the contest album. "Like" it and share the link to your friends! I'll be greatly indebted to you. Last day to vote is Friday, May 20th at midnight.

VOTE FOR ME HERE!

Etsy Craft Party 2011: Norfolk, VA

1. Norfolk Craft Party shirts, 2. Swap Table, 3. Vendors, 4. Stache Station,
5. Makin' it happen..., 6. Craftin' it up..., 7. WINNING!, 8. Virginia is for Lovers, 9. VA Pride!

Hello all! Just got word that this years Etsy Craft Party is scheduled for June 10th, 6pm, at 757 Creative Space in Norfolk. If you are in the Hampton Roads area and you enjoy all things crafty, come out! My bestie and I had a blast last year and even walked away with a new sewing machine! There will be make-and-take tables, a photo-booth, food and fun! Check out pics of last years craft party on Flickr. For more info feel free to visit the links below:

Etsy Meetup
Craft Party 2011

Mother's Day 2011

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! Mine was lovely...time with family, with some downtime in between, and sweet indulgences provided by my husband. My Mother's Day weekend started off great with some kite flying at Mt. Trashmore park. Sunday, thankfully our church service was putting on a children's production so there was a combined later service, meaning I got to have breakfast in bed and I was able to sit with my entire family at church. My husband plays guitar during their contemporary service and my daughter is usually in Sunday school so I'm usually sitting by myself in the congregation, so it was a nice treat for my Mother's Day to have us all together.

kite flying...

Afterward, I had a special request to visit The Royal Chocolate for some chocolate covered strawberries which were divine! Followed by lunch with my parental units. I was able to get some sewing time in since my parents took my daughter for a few hours. We met them back later for dinner at their house. All in all it was quite perfect :)

Photo of the Day: Domestication

Domestication..., a photo by 3oclockwalk on Flickr.

Product of the Day: Liberty of London kicks!

I'm not much of a tennis shoe wearer...I mostly wear flip flops or flats on casual days. You will probably only see me with lace up shoes on when I workout. But I may have to make an exception for these sweet Liberty of London print Nikes. I absolutely love L of L prints :)

Currently Obsessing Over: Neutral Nail Polish

I've never really been a fan of nail polish, just seemed like a lot of work for results that didn't last more than a week. But I've been wearing it a lot more lately. I think Spring starting probably has a lot to do with it but I'm really digging neutral tone colors and pretty pastel ones. My current fave that I've been wearing is a shade by Claire's called Secret Garden. I got it last year so I'm not sure if its still around but Essie has a very similar color to it. I'm loving the entire Essie Nail Color line actually. I bought a whole bunch of neutral pinks and browns recently at my local Five Below. If you have one nearby I def suggest checking them out. You can't beat 3 for $5, especially since the Essie ones usually run about $8 at Wal-Mart, although their color selection is amazing so its pretty much worth it.

Product of the Day: Leaping Rabbits Mobile

I have a thing for bunnas. Digging this simple and adorable Leaping Rabbits mobile on Etsy via Paper n Stitch. But I'm not shopping for a baby anytime soon...well at least not yet :P

Join me for Share Our Strength's: Great American Bake Sale 2011

I'm very excited to announce that I will be participating in this years Great American Bake Sale, one of many campaigns by Share Our Strength, in the plight to end child hunger. The concept is simple. Hold a local bake sale to raise funds for: awareness, educational programs, affordable fresh fruits/vegetables and community farmer's markets to low-income areas. Why a bake sale? Because everyone loves sweets!

If you are in the area and would like to participate, feel free to join my team the Baking Betties! We would love to have you. Otherwise, you can search the Share Our Strength website for possible bake sales in your area or start one of your own!

Help spread awareness and take the No Kid Hungry Pledge. Join a team, host a bake sale, spread the word...the more the merrier!

kit + lili Print Dresses

Loving kit + lili's (via Black Eiffel) choice of bold colorful prints for these adorable dresses plus the wood-grain tote; I'm obsessed with totes and ever since my rustic wedding planning I've been a big fan of wood-grain.

Embroidered Book Covers

I recently started an embroidery project. I have stacks of embroidery patterns that I bought for a nickle a piece or so years ago at a local antique store that was closing its doors. I stocked up on them and never really touched them until now. So, I thought it quite fitting when I came across these Embroidered Book Covers, via Freshly Blended, of classics by authors like Jane Austen. They are done by an Illustrator by the name of Jillian Tamaki. Definitely inspiration for me while working on the tea towels I'm embroidering.  

Weekend Fun

This weekend was both good and bad. For half of Saturday we were very productive in getting the house all nice and clean, even managed to get some creative time in with the lil one. We painted wooden eggs that I had in my craft stash. We busted out the paint and glitter...it was a grand, messy ole time and we inished off with some yummy ice cream sundaes with Magic Shell Topping. Yum! The best. Shortly thereafter, my throat got sore and Mommie spent most of Sunday in bed :( Ah well...on the bright side I'm okay with staying in bed too.

Product of the Day: Grab Guard

I don't know why someone didn't come up with this sooner? Grab Guard works like a mini padlock for your belongings when you are out and about. Yet, its designed to look a bit more discrete so you don't look odd padlocking your purse somewhere. I always get so paranoid when I go out to dinner and I hang my purse on the back of my chair. And it gets soo annoying when I go grocery shopping and have to pick up my purse just to walk a bit down the aisle, keep in mind I like big purses and my usually weighs about 8 lbs :P So smart and simple.

Product of the Day: Ticket Stub Diary

Love this idea! This Ticket Stub Diary would've come in handy throughout high school...admittedly I don't get to see that many concerts these days. I am super excited for a concert I get to attend next month though! My older sis and I are going to the NKOTBSB concert! My sis was a big NKOTB fan growing up, thus she lovingly passed the NKOTB and the boy band gene to me and I became a big fan of my generation's boy band, Backstreet Boys. I got an early lesson in boy band-om and now that they are a super boy band, I'm super psyched! Hah!

Product of the Day: SMEG Retro Fridge

One day I will own a cute retro fridge just like this to match my future retro kitchen. It seems weird to have the words "future" and "retro" next to each other in the same sentence...

Product of the Day: Veggie Cutters

My daughter starts Kindergarten soon and I can't wait to make her exciting lunches for school. I know Bento has been around for a while but I am now just realizing its awesomeness. I just like its ridiculous cuteness. I didn't realize how many accessories go with bento making. I came across these vegetables molds on this Japanese site. (Those Japanese are so clever with their cuteness?!) If you don't want to go through the trouble of actually growing your vegetables or if you feel weird about manipulating their shape like I do, you might like these vegetable cutters that work like cookie cutters to get all sorts of shapes out of your veggies.